NEW ARTICLE: Still More Catholic Than The Pope Topic: CNSNews.com
The uber-Catholics who ran CNSNews.com continued to lash out at anyone -- even Pope Francis -- it deemed not to be right-wing enough or who failed to sufficiently hate LGBT people. Read more >>
CNS Continued Its Musk-Fluffing Until The End Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com did a lot ofMusk-fuffing as he pursued Twitter, and that continued right up until CNS' demise last month. Craig Bannister unironically wrote in a March 7 article:
“If an organization portrays itself as balanced, but is not, it should be labeled to inform the public,” Twitter Owner Elon Musk said Monday, when asked about reports that CNN staff had previously been ordered not to investigate the origins of COVID-19.
Of course, such a label would have applied to CNS as well, given how its mission statement (falsely) claimed to "fairly present all legitimate sides of a story." Bannister also hyped Musk trolling a congressman in a March 9 article:
When Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted a condemnation of Fox News airing January 6, 2021 video from the U.S. Capitol, Twitter Owner Elon Musk replied to Schumer by retweeting a viral video clip of the footage - to ask the New York Democrat if he wanted it deleted.
“Do you want us to remove this video?” Musk replied to Schumer Wednesday, including a video clip tweeted by @StevenVoiceover, in which the narrator pretends to be a tour guide for the “insurrection” inside the Capitol.
The selected scenes included in the video clip are those of seemingly peaceful trespassers, not violent insurrectionists trying to overthrow the government.
As we've noted, such cherry-picked video ignores the reality of what happened that day. The next day, Bannister touted a Republican congressman sucking up to Musk:
“God bless Elon Musk,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said, when asked if he had a message for the billionaire who, after his purchase of Twitter, allowed two demonstrably liberal journalists to publish “The Twitter” files, exposing the censorship of conservatives that took place under the social media platform’s previous ownership.
On Friday, Jordan tweeted a video clip from his appearance of “The Benny Show,” in which Host Benny Johnson asked the congressman what he had to say to Elon Musk:
“You’ve now held multiple hearings about Twitter. What is your message to Elon?” Johnson asked.
“God bless him. God bless Elon Musk for standing up for the First Amendment – and recognizing how important that is to the greatest country ever, protecting those freedoms,” Rep. Jordan replied.
“I think, what a service he has done for the country,” Jordan added.
CNS' coverage of the February hearing was highly biased and incomplete (more evidence for that label Musk wants). Bannister attempted to do more of that regarding the March hearing:
This week, Rep. Jordan took part in a House subcommittee investigation of the “weaponization of the federal government,” with regards to Twitter. During the hearing, Democrats attacked, and tried to discredit, the two publishers of The Twitter Files: progressive journalist Matt Taibbi and former California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Michael Shellenberger.
One Democrat, Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), accused Taibbi and Shellenberger of being right-wing shills for conservatives. Democrats also bucked the First Amendment by trying to pressure the two witnesses to reveal their sources – which Rep. Jordan later condemneW. d in a Fox News interview:
Given that Musk was obviously their source, it was absurd for them to claim any sort of privilege by not acknowledging that. Also note that Bannister offered misleading descriptions of Taibbi and Shellenberger -- "progressive journalist," "former California Democratic gubernatorial candidate" -- to suggest there's some kind of balance when, in fact, both writers have indisputably moved to the right and are simply Musk's servile stenographers.
CNS also echoed its Media Research Center parent in cheering Musk's trolling of NPR by arbitrarily labeling its Twitter feed as "state-affiliated media." Managing editor Michael W. Chapman cheered the decision in an April 5 article, purporting to add context:
Examples of other "state-affiliated media" on Twitter include Sputnik (Russia state-affiliated media), RT, People's Daily (China state-affiliated media), and Periodico Granma (Medios afiliados al gobierno, Cuba).
Chapman cannot plausibly argue that NPR is anything like those fully state-controlled outlets, and, indeed, he made no effort to -- he was doing Musk PR, after all. Instead, he quoted other right-wingers, including a couple of his fellow MRC employees (not that he disclosed that conflict of interest, of course) cheering Musk's trolling.
When Musk trolled another media outlet, Patrick Goodenough cheerfully wrote about it in an April 18 article:
A widening controversy over Twitter’s decision to label media outlets that receive government funding took a new twist Monday night when the platform changed its label for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to “69% Government-funded Media.”
Twitter had previously labeled CBC “70% Government-funded Media,” which in turn was a change from the original “Government-funded Media” label that had drawn sharp complaints from the broadcaster.
Drawing attention to the most recent label change, Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted, “Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re ‘less than 70% government-funded’, so we corrected the label.”
The same day, CNS published a column by right-wing writer Joe Schaeffer insisting that the $100 million the federal goernment provides toward public broadcasting equals "100 million reasons why NPR is journalistically compromised in its reporting on the ruling establishment in Washington."
Two days later, the MRC abruptly shut down CNS, for which it has yet to offer an explanation, let alone publicly acknowledge.
After Arraignment, CNS Still Defended Trump, Attacked Bragg Topic: CNSNews.com
As Donald Trump moved toward arrignment last month, CNSNews.com continued to do what it did when indictment talk started swirling around him: Defend the guy and attack the prosecutor, district attorney Alvin Bragg.
The day before the arraignment, an article by Craig Bannister complained that Bragg "is known for being soft on crime – but, not in the case of a 61 year-old bodega worker who fatally stabbed an attacker last July." He went on to misleadingly claim that "Alvin Bragg’s DA campaign received a $1,000,000 donation from far-left billionaire philanthropist and activist George Soros through a political action committee called 'Color of Change.'" As we've documented, Soros didn't make a direct donation to Bragg -- he donated to Color of Change, which had pledged to support Bragg. An article by Susan Jones complained that a CNN anchor asked a Trump lawyer "the questions that will have some Trump-haters salivating," such as if there would be a "perp walk" for Trump. (Jones is clearly a Trump-lover.)
The morning of the arraignment on April 4, Jones served up some pre-emptive defenses:
Coverage of the arrignment itself was left to Bannister, who chose to give more attention to a separate legal judgment against Stormy Daniels, a hush-money payment to whom is the focus of the criminal charges against Trump:
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump was arraigned in one court on charges related to payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels – which prompted Daniels to post a vulgar tweet – while another court ordered Daniels to pay Trump more than a hundred thousand dollars.
Trump attorney Harmeet Dhillon tweeted news of the award to Trump, noting it is based on Daniels’ previous “meritless litigation” against Trump:
For her part, the porn actress responded to the news of Trump’s arraignment by posting a vulgar tweet, saying she’d rather have sex than be arrested.
“Stormy Daniels gloats over Trump arraignment with X-rated tweet,” Fox News headlined one article, which notes that Trump pled not guilty to all charges of 34 felony counts stemming from an investigation into alleged hush money payments to former Playboy model Stormy Daniels.
By contrast, Jones devoted an article to Trump's post-indictment whine-fest, complaining that non-right-wing networks didn't air it in its entirety:
Cheers and chants of "USA! USA!" greeted former President Donald Trump as he spoke to friends, family and all Americans who tuned in last night to hear his reaction to a legal case that even his detractors describe as flimsy.
In what was essentially a campaign rally, the declared presidential candidate discussed the many ways Democrats have tried to undermine him with their "fraudulent investigations"; he called out his political enemies by name, including his latest nemesis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg; he derided other, ongoing investigations into his activities; and he warned that "our country is going to hell" under President Joe Biden.
Notably, CNN cut away from the speech about 23 minutes into it as Trump described "where we are as a nation."
MSNBC refused to air the Trump speech, because, as Rachel Maddow put it, it was "basically a campaign speech in which he is repeating his same lies and allegations against his perceived enemies."
Despite presenting herself as a journalist, Jones made no effort to fact-check anything Trump said, preferring to serve as his stenographer instead.
The Trump defenses continued in the following days:
Jones did write an article that purported to attempt balance -- Two Views – Bolton: Don't Delay Trial, It Benefits Trump; Barr: The Case Seems to Lack 'Any Legal Basis' -- instead, she devoted only four paragraphs to the views of John Bolton (whom she called a "bitter Trump foe") but lavished 15 paragraphs on the pro-Trump views of William Barr, whom she identified only as his title as former attorney general.
An anonymously written article complained that Bragg's office website states that "Our office is a safe place for undocumented immigrants to report crime." The anonymous writer didn't explain why this statement was so offensive. More attacks followed:
Meanwhile, CNS editor Terry Jeffrey wrote an April 5 column that appeared to be an exercise in whataboutism by rehashing the impeachment of President Clinton and complaining he wasn't hauled into court for perjury for "intentionally false" testimony regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
CNS Circled The Right-Wing Wagons Around Trump As Indictment Loomed Topic: CNSNews.com
After Donald Trump floated the idea in March that his arrest was imminent, CNSNews.com unsurprisingly rushed to publish numerous articles about right-wingers defending him and attacking the district attorney investigating him, Alvin Bragg (whom CNS curiously makes sure to note is based in Manhattan):
A March 20 article by Susan Jones touted CNS' favorite right-wing radio host defending Trump:
First of all, whatever payment was made to Stormy Daniels, it's not "hush money," Mark Levin told the Fox News audience on Sunday morning. Nor were campaign funds used, he added.
"Every one of these cases is bogus, just like the Mueller case was bogus, just like the phone call to Ukraine was perfectly fine, two bogus impeachments -- this is outrageous," Levin said.
"Donald Trump today is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president. Can you believe a local D.A. knows that he doesn't have the law, state or federal, on his side, and is trying to cripple the nomination for the presidency?"
Never mind of course. that none of thesepoliticians or commentators had seen any of the evidence Bragg had against Trump.
Editor Terry Jeffrey used a March 22 column to cheer the widow of a New York City police officer kiled in the line of duty for using her eulogy to attack Bragg (though without mentioning Trump).
As Trump's self-declared arrest date passed without incident, CNS and Trump's supporters (but we repeat ourselves) started feeling a little cocky. A March 24 article by Craig Bannister happily touted how Hannity flip-flopped on Bragg (but didn't note that's what he did) by declaring that "the case died this very week" and that "it seems he can’t indict a ham sandwich."
But when news of Trump's actual indictment broke on March 30, CNS led with an article by Melanie Arter that quoted the reaction of only Trump and one of his lawyers, then went into full meltdown (and Trump defense) mode:
Managing editor Michael W. Chapman also wrote a roundup item hyping how "conservatives and Republicans across the country denounced the step as a 'political witch hunt' designed to try to keep Trump from running for president in 2024 against Democrat Joe Biden." By contrast, CNS published only one article critical of Trump -- quoting Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff denouncing Trump's threat of "death and destruction" -- and one neutral article, quoting the Biden White House stating it had no advance knowledge of Trump's indictment.
Jeffrey also expanded his praise for the police officer's widow trashing Bragg into a full "news" article on April 3 and touting that she got a "standing ovation" -- never mind that this had happened nearly three months earlier and was not actually "news." Perhaps this contrarian definition of what constitutes "news" is one reason why CNS was shut down by its Media Research Center parent on April 20.
Right-wing media have been embracing Robert Kennedy Jr.'s announced campaign for president because he would be riding his family as a spoiler to President Biden's re-election campaign. CNSNews.com played along as well, with an April 6 article by managing editor Michael W. Chapman touting his campaign:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, filed papers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Apr. 5 declaring his intention to run for president of the United States in 2024. RFK Jr. is a Democrat and likely would be challenging Joe Biden for the nomination.
In early March, Kennedy spoke at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire where he was asked if he planned to run for president. He said, "I'm thinking about it. I've passed the biggest hurdle, which is my wife has green-lighted it."
In a March 10 tweet, Kenendy said that if he runs, his "top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms. Together we can restore America's democracy."
Chapman then felt the need to downplay Kennedy's anti-vaxx extremism:
Kennedy also is an outspoken critic of uncessary vaccines -- not all vaccines -- and has sharply criticized the COVID policies pushed by Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Biden administration.
Kennedy, an attorney, is the founder and chairman of Children's Health Defense, a non-profit organization that seeks "to end childhood health epidemics by working aggressively to eliminate harmful exposures, hold those responsible accountable and establish safeguards to prevent future harm."
Chapman did not explain which vaccines Kennedy purportedly approves of -- despite the fact that it's clear he opposes pretty much all of them. As Stat News summarized:
His outright disbelief in established science is demonstrated most vividly by his crusade against vaccines and vaccine science. He has produced and endorsed pseudo-documentaries that are chock-full of exaggerated, unsupported claims and then held screenings of them for legislators, though few showed up. He held rallies against vaccines on the steps of state capitol buildings and injected himself into discussions about licensing for doctors, keeping children healthy at schools, and Covid vaccines. He has amplified disinformation agents and even quacks who push false vaccine narratives. He has held fundraisers for politicians who reject public health protection.
That doesn't sound there's much leeway in Kennedy's anti-vaxx crusade.
Chapman went on to hype some of Kennedy's views, which include calling the U.S. support of Ukraine against Russia's invasion a "Neocon project," raging against the Federal Reserve for purportedly planning to issue a digital currency (which is actually just a payment system), ranting about the "exploding Autism epidemic far more devastating than COVID?" -- which is actually part of his anti-vaxxer crusade -- and declaring that liberal want to establish "a surveillance + security state to suppress dissent as billionaires gorge themselves on the bleached carcasses of our ruined middle class."
That sounds much more like a fringe right-wing ranter than a Democratic candidate. But, again, Chapman wants to set Kennedy up as a spoiler, so he apparently had a mandate to treat Kennedy as a serious candidate.
CNS Published Another Catholic Priest Who Wanted To Be A Right-Wing Activist Topic: CNSNews.com
Michael Orsi wasn't the only Catholic priest published by CNSNews.com who seemed to believe his real calling was to be a right-wing pundit. Jerry Pokorsky is a priest in suburban Washington, D.C., and as with Orsi, CNS was pleased by how he mixed Catholicism with pushing right-wing talking points. In a February 2020 column, Pokorsky complained that Catholic politicians weren't sufficiently imposing their faith on people:
By most measurements, America is the most prosperous country in the world. Yet the majority of “Catholics” in Congress support profound evils degrading marriage, confusing human sexuality, setting men against women, and mother against unborn baby – the effective destruction of the family.
Despite their talents and accomplishments, these elected professionals are “salt” that has lost its taste. They have severed themselves from the teaching of Jesus and no longer keep the world from corruption. Instead, they contribute to human degradation. Prosperity brings physical comforts, but prosperity cannot provide meaning, nor can it save.
In an October 2020 column shortly before the presidential election, Pokorsky complained that "during political campaigns, the clergy are effectively non-combatants" and declared that "the excommunication of pro-abortion politicians or the denial of Holy Communion to “those obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin” are not political acts. They are distinctly religious acts of charity, warning the public figure – and his supporters -- of threats to salvation." Pokorsky didn't explain why Catholics must be punished for not imposing their beliefs on others by law.
Pokorsky spent a February 2021 column raging against a letter by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asking officials to address systemic racism, sounding like a right-wing politician in the process:
The bishops’ overall narrative on racism implicitly suggests a blanket condemnation of Caucasians, even implying that white people cannot ascribe racism to racial minorities. The bishops are echoing a common theme of neo-Marxist critical theory: “Racism is the oppression of a marginalized group in a society that is based on white supremacy. If you are a white person, then you naturally benefit from white privilege.” How does one repent of one’s whiteness?
It is doubtful the bishops hold this view. But it’s likely their ideological USCCB ghostwriters do, echoing the ideology of the neo-Marxist Black Lives Matter leaders who claim racism “is everywhere, it’s almost like the air we breathe.” Indeed, examples of racism are deemed so pervasive that many Catholic schools now have “diversity officers,” like KGB commissars, monitoring compliance with politically-correct views and rules.
Enough.
In a February 2022 column, Pokorsky tried to frame things like not hating LGBTQ people and mask mandates as un-Biblical:
Bureaucratic elites desire more than compliance. They want our hearts, souls, and minds. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” training officers behave like KGB agents (or the dread “flying monkeys” in The Wizard of Oz). They monitor expressions of dissent on the job and social media and administer pedantic training modules to ensure “best practices.”
[...]
Violence and destruction are the hallmarks of most revolutions. The inimical purposes of bureaucratic consolidations are much more subtle: Buy off and replace the Ten Commandments.
The Sixth and Ninth Commandments protecting marriage must be destroyed and redefined to promote contraception and the LGBTQ agenda. The Fifth Commandment needs redefinition to mandate subsidized abortion on demand and euthanasia for those who are a drag on the economy. The Seventh Commandment protecting private property (always, of course, in the service of the common good) is replaced by the centralization of economic and social power in the hands of a few, including theft from children not yet born.
Duties to the State replace the first three Commandments, perverting the notion of “social justice.” The slogan “follow the science” really means “never question your Government masters.” The presumed infallible teachings of government replace the Fourth Commandment.
[...]
The bureaucratic revolutionary elites have revealed the tyranny of their moral relativism. Of course—as in the Soviet Union—not everyone is in the position to dissent in public. But the vocational freedom of celibates—priests and single men—give them a greater responsibility to push back. (They may find that even those strange flying monkeys celebrated when the Wicked Witch of the West melted.) Where are the fathers?
We could use old-fashioned male outrage to protect our daughters on university swim teams. Do not comply.
In an October 2022 column before the midterm elections, Pokorsky followed CNSnarratives in attacking Catholic politicians like President Biden and Nancy Pelosi for not forcling all Americans to adhere to Catholic doctrine, sneering they were like the hated tax collectors of old: 'Yet, all of those people listed above are potential tax collectors. All they would have to do is say with sincerity, 'O God be merciful to me, a sinner,' and make a good Confession. May an ordinary—not a 'devout Catholic'—priest be at their bedsides before they cross the threshold to eternity."
Pokorsky served up a right-wing rant in his Dec. 15 column:
The toxic politics of America and the incompetency and malice of the mainstream media have ruined our trust. We don’t know the facts because they don’t provide them or lie.
The lies are numerous and numbing: the Russia hoax, mendacious COVID narratives, the “mostly peaceful” Black Lives Matter riots, the refusal on Woke grounds to cover the Waukesha slaughter, the January 6 “insurrection,” the border security fraud, transgender advocacy that disguises the horror of genital mutilation, the Biden and Pelosi claim of devout Catholic status, and so on.
Adding insult to injury, U.S. military policymakers have now gone woke. According to a Heritage Foundation report, “Wokeness in the military is being imposed by elected and appointed leaders in the White House, Congress, and the Pentagon who have little understanding of the purpose, character, traditions, and requirements of the institution they are trying to change.”
Institutionalized lies provide the context for another futile war -- supported by Hollywood clichés, the Washington establishment, and a mendacious media. With policies set in secret by elites, most political, religious, and media establishments are dutifully executing operations supporting objectives they struggle to articulate.
Pokorsky then attacked the U.S. for suppoting the "oligarchs" in Ukraine and fighting a "proxy war" against Russia:
In part, negotiations are in deep freeze because meddling Americans have kept the Zelensky government on financial life support, with a thriving illegal arms trade. As Ukraine freezes, reports indicate that most Ukrainian oligarchs rest comfortably in elegant European hot spots.
The US hasn’t officially sent in troops (a secret contingent of Special Forces personnel counts only in terms of body bags). We won’t raise the rainbow flag of victory and probably won’t receive Russian POWs. Look at the bright side. The reluctance to send troops saves our guys from the ignominy of using a POW intake form that asks: What is your gender assigned at birth? What are your preferred pronouns?
Political elites in both parties and the experts and Hollywood stands proudly in a virtue-signaling posture with Zelensky and his oligarchs. Let’s stand, instead, with ordinary Ukrainians and not the inexplicable American proxy war.
By contrast, Pokorsky had little bad to say about Russia beyond noting that "The Russians aim to win big, possibly with widespread death and destruction" and seemingly lamenting that "many Russians are reportedly upset with their leadership for pursuing only half-measures instead of winning the war." It makes you wonder whose side he's on.
Bill Donohue Lies Again That Soros Was A 'Nazi Collaborator' Topic: CNSNews.com
Last year, we caught dishonest Catholic Bill Donohue spreading the malicious lie that George Soros was a Nazi collaborator. Well, he went there again in his April 10 CNSNews.com column, which began by complaining that Soros' critics were being called out for invoking anti-Semitic tropes in attacking him:
George Soros has been one of the most prominent philanthropists serving the radical left-wing agenda for decades. Everyone knows it, yet there is a coordinated effort of late to bail him out, saying his critics are “anti-Semites,” looking for a “boogeyman.” His allies are particularly miffed about reports that Soros is funding criminal-friendly district attorneys across the nation.
Here’s a recent sampling of efforts to brand Soros’ critics as anti-Semitic. In the last 19 days, the following news stories were written with that objective in mind.
[...]
Not one of these persons who made the charge that Soros’ critics are driven by anti-Semitism quoted even one person to make their case!
Donohue failed to link to any of the articles he complained about, nor did he disclose the context in which this was discussed.We can assume, however, that it involves the attempts by Donald Trump and right-wing activists to link Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg to Soros -- after all, the Media Reserach Center similarlywhined about this narrative being called out.
Indeed, Donohue went on to declare any district attorney who could be linked to Soros money to be "corrupt," adding: "He gave Alvin Bragg $1 million when he was running for DA in Manhattan in 2021." But that's not quite true; as we documented when the MRC complained it was called out for getting this wrong, Soros gave $1 million to the group Color of Change, which had pledged a few days earlier to spend that amount to help elect Bragg; it ultimately spent only half that amount, and the campaign itself raised much more than that pledge, though Bragg was far outspent (yet still won) by an opponent who was largely self-funded. Donohue crowed that he copied this from his new book; it looks like it will need to be reprinted to correct this error.
He went on to huff that "No doubt there are anti-Semites who have attacked Soros, but it is scurrilous to tar all his critics as bigots. Soros is guilty as charged." Then he spread that nasty lie again:
One final note. Soros knows a personal thing or two about anti-Semitism. As a young man he became a Nazi collaborator. In a “60 Minutes” interview, he admitted that he hung around as property was confiscated from his fellow Jews. In the interview with Steve Croft [sic] he said that he never regretted his participation in the process. When asked if this was difficult, Soros said, “Not, not at all. Not at all.” Stunned, Kroft said, “No feeling of guilt?” “No” came the reply. This was because, according to him, he was not the one actively doing it, but rather was more of a spectator.
As has beenrepeatedly documented, Soros was a teenager in Nazi-occupied Hungary when Soros' father arranged to have his son pose as the nephew of a Hungarian official whose job it was to inventory the property abandoned by Jews who fled the country that the Nazis appropriated, playing no other role beyond helper. As any reasonable person might expect, Soros has no regrets about doing what he needed to do to survive the Nazis.
Once again, Donohue is effectively declaring that he fervently wished that the Nazis has killed just one more Jew. Not a good look.
CNS Promoted Biden-Bashing Sheriff -- But Censored His Extremism Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com managing editor Michael W. Chapman did his part to forward Republican talking points on the border in a March 3 article:
In just one area of Arizona, not even on the border with Mexico, fentanyl pill seizures have gone up 610% in two years and human trafficking has risen 377%. Testifying about the crisis, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb told Congress to "stop saying the border is secure, because the border is not secure."
Sheriff Lamb spoke before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security on Feb. 28. He was joined by Rebecca Kiessling, a private citizen, whose two teenage sons were killed by ingesting fake Percocet pills that were made with fentanyl. They did not know what they were consuming.
[...]
"In 2018, we had zero seizures" of fentanyl, he said, "and in 2019 we had around 700 pills. In 2020 we had over 200,000 pills. In 2021 we had over 1.2 million pills, and this last year we had over 1.4 million pills come into my community."
In the state, in 2021, "we lost 44 children to [fentanyl] poisoning, under the age of 17," said Sheriff Lamb. "Seven were under the age of one year old. If that doesn't mobilize the forces of the country to stop this problem, I don't know what will. This is what we deal with on a daily basis."
Chapman dutifully censored the fact that Lamb is a right-wing extremist. There's a reason he's called the "QAnon Sheriff," according to Salon:
To date, Lamb has appeared on at least five QAnon-friendly shows, including the podcasts "X22 Report" and "Uncensored Abe" as well as shows hosted by John Michael Chambers and Sean Morgan, both prominent figures in the QAnon movement who have pushed a variety of conspiracy theories to their audiences.
During his appearance on "X22 Report" last January, Lamb said: "I follow the show, so this is a treat for me." That show literally features a section on its website titled "Latest From QAnon."
[...]
Law enforcement agencies have warned about the potential for violence by QAnon believers, and very few Republicans in elected office have engaged the movement directly, which makes Lamb a notable exception.
On top of that, Lamb's son hosts a podcast that has featured "election deniers, QAnon-adjacent activists, and right-wing vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse." Further, Lamb is a guy who actually cares more about advancing his own political career than engaging in responsible law enforcement;a month after the congressional testimony Chapman lionized, Lamb announced his campaign for an Arizona Senate seat.
But pushing Republican narratives was more important to Chapman than doing his job as a reporter, so Lamb's extremisim was ignored.
That's not the only thing Chapman underreported in his article. Describing Rebecca Kiessling only as "a private citizen" is a bit disingenuous; in fact, she's an anti-abortion activist who's so extreme she opposes abortion even for rape victims. And despite Chapman's implication that the overdose deaths of Kiessling's sons were somehow the fault of Biden's border policies, they occurred in 2020, before Biden took office.
That became a point of contention in a couple other CNS articles. When extremist Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to blame Biden for the deaths of Kiessling's sons, Patrick Goodenough complained in a March 2 article that even tried to defend Greene a little:
President Biden on Wednesday evening hit back at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for blaming his administration for two fentanyl deaths that occurred before he took office.
Addressing a meeting of House Democrats in Baltimore, Biden suggested that GOP lawmakers such as Greene were going to cause a lot more Republicans to seek bipartisan cooperation with Democrats.
[...]
After the House Homeland Security Committee heard testimony from a Michigan woman whose sons died after unknowingly taking the synthetic opioid in 2020, Taylor Greene tweeted a clip from the hearing.
“Listen to this mother, who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son’s murders because of the Biden administrations refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel’s [sic] from murdering Americans everyday by Chinese fentanyl,” she tweeted.
Biden said he probably “shouldn’t digress,” but then continued, “I’ve read – she was very specific recently, saying that a mom, a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl, that – that I killed her sons.”
“Well, the interesting thing is, that fentanyl they took came during the last administration,” he said, chuckling.
[...]
While Taylor Greene in her tweet did link the two young men’s “murders” to “the Biden administration’s refusal to secure our border” she did not – as Biden said in Baltimore – accuse him of having “killed her sons.”
After right-wingers maliciously portrayed Biden's chuckling as directed toward Kiessling and not Greene, CNS surprisingly came to a rare defense of Biden with a March 3 article by Melanie Arter featuring press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointing out how Biden's words were being "mischaracterized."
If that rare stab at fairness was meant to stave off the day that the Media Research Center would shut down CNS, it appears not to have worked.
NEW ARTICLE: Riding The Anti-ESG Bandwagon Topic: CNSNews.com
Attacking investments that take into account environmental, social and governmental issues is all the right-wing rage these days -- and CNSNews.com did its partisan duty to promote those talking points. Read more >>
CNS' Last Biden-Bashing Crusade: Nitpicking His Trip to Ireland Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com's final anti-Biden crusade before being shut down last month involbved doing a lot of whining about President Biden's trip to Ireland. Susan Jones sneered in an April 5 article headlined "WH: Biden 'Is Going to Focus on the American People' -- But He's Going to UK and Ireland Next Week":
The Biden White House had no comment Tuesday on former President Donald Trump's arraignment.
President Joe Biden, however, flashed a big, wide smile when reporters shouted questions about Trump’s indictment as they were ushered out of the room where Biden was meeting with his science and technology advisers.
At the White House press briefing on Tuesday, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said, "It's an ongoing case, so we’re just not going to comment on the case specifically itself.
"Look, the President is going to focus on the American people, like he does every day," Jean-Pierre said.
"He is not — this is not something that is a focus for him. He is going to focus on things like making sure that the — that we lower — continue to lower prices for the American people."
At least seven times, in response to other questions, Jean-Pierre repeated that Biden's focus "is on the American people."
So it came as a bit of a surprise on Wednesday morning, when Jean-Pierre announced that "President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will travel to the UK (Northern Ireland) and the Republic of Ireland from April 11-14."
It's unclear how this underscores Biden's focus on the American people.
Jones ramped up the nastiness (with added nitpicking) in an April 7 article headlined "With All That's Going On in the World, Why Is Biden Going to Ireland?":
"How does a Biden trip to Ireland help counter China or end the war in Ukraine?" a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday:
"So, let me just say a couple of things," Jean-Pierre responded:
"The President is certainly looking forward to taking this trip to Northern Ireland and also the UK" (she meant Northern Ireland, which is in the UK, and the Republic of Ireland).
Jones pushed her anti-Biden partisanship again over the trip in an April 11 article:
With all that's going on in this chaotic world, President Joe Biden is taking time to visit Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, and then the Republic of Ireland. The trip, which mixes business with pleasure, begins today.
As of Monday, the White House could not or would not say which members of his family will accompany the elderly president on a sentimental visit to his ancestral home.
Jones added in an update: "Biden, asked if his family will accompany him on trip, said, "Just two of my family members who hadn’t been there before." No names given." All of these articles, mind you, were presented as "news" despite Jones' blatantly partisan attacks.
Once actully on the trip, Jones' partisan sniping continued in an April 13 article:
The American president waxed sentimental about his Irish roots on Wednesday at a community gathering in Dundalk, Ireland, saying, "coming here feels like coming home."
"Well, it feels like home," Biden said at the beginning of his speech.
"I said last time I was here, in a sense I know why my ancestors and many of your relatives left during the famine. And -- but you know, when you're here, you wonder why anyone would ever want to leave. No, I mean it, so it's good to be back."
Biden noted that he brought along his sister Valerie and his son Hunter on a trip that is more personal than policy-dominated: "Stand up, guys," he said. "I'm proud of you."
There was nitpicking, of course; Patrick Goodenough spent an April 14 article bashing Biden for getting the name of a rugby team wrong:
The “All Blacks” is the nickname for New Zealand’s national rugby union team, one of the world’s best.
The “Black and Tans” was the nickname for British police recruits, often notoriously brutal, who were sent to Ireland to bolster the local force during the guerilla war against British rule just over a century ago.
President Biden evidently got the two mixed up during his nostalgia tour of the Republic of Ireland this week.
[...]
In Dublin on Thursday, National Security Council senior director for Europe Amanda Sloat was asked by a reporter whether Biden was aware that he had misspoken when he referred to the “Black and Tans.”
“I think for everyone in Ireland who is a rugby fan, it was incredibly clear that the President was talking about the All Blacks, and Ireland's defeat of the New Zealand team in 2016,” she said.
“Did he realize that right after he said it, do you know?” Sloat was asked.
“You know, I think it was – it was clear what the president was referring to,” she said. “It was certainly clear to his cousin sitting next to him who had played in that match.”
Addressing Irish lawmakers in Dublin on Thursday, Biden again mentioned Irish rugby victories against New Zealand, but this time referred to the “All Blacks.”
In that same address, Biden said he would rather have his children play rugby than American football.
That last comment, by the way, drew its own article, headlined "Biden Disparages American Football in Address to Irish Parliament." Its author was anonymous but was mostly likely writtten by editor Terry Jeffrey, lover of all things football.
Such blatant editorializing and partisan targeting presented as "news" is a big reason why CNS' readership was in decline, which likely played a role in the MRC shutting it down six days later.
CNS Continued Mocking, Nitpicking Biden To The End Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com lovedtonitpick President Biden and mock any verbal misstep -- in a way it refused to do regarding Donald Trump when he was president -- and it continued to do so until its demise. Susan Jones wrote in a Jan. 6 article under the headline "Biden Confused":
"Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat facing this country," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said on December 20, when it announced the seizure of "50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder this calendar year."
That amounts to "379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl," DEA said.
The president of the United States tried to make the same point on Thursday in his speech on border security, but he failed, apparently not reading the teleprompter correctly:
"[S]ince August of last year, Customs and Border Patrol [it's Customs and Border Protection] have seized more than 20,000 pounds of deadly fentanyl," President Joe Biden said. "That’s enough to kill — kill as many as 1,000 people in this country. Twenty thousand pounds of fentanyl. It’s a killer. It’s a flat killer," Biden said.
The White House posted a transcript of Biden's words, not putting a correction in brackets this time, as it often does.
In case anyone hasn't heard the stories he loves to repeat, Joe "Amtrak" Biden reminisced about riding the rails on Monday, during a stop at a Baltimore train tunnel that will undergo a $4-billion replacement.
"Back in Delaware, I’m known for riding Amtrak, for being their senator all those years," Biden said:
"And most of you know that a senator — as a senator, I rode the train between Washington and Wilmington, and back and forth, every single day that the Senate was in. And they tell me it was about an average 200- — 117 days a year, about 265 miles a day. I put over a million miles on Amtrak — not a joke — including as Vice — including as Vice President.
"Amtrak wasn’t just a way to get home to family," Biden continued:
[...]
(The Daily Mail reported that this is the eighth time Biden has repeated that debunked story about a conductor congratulating him for logging a million miles on Amtrak. "The conductor had been dead for more than a year – and retired for more than two decades – before the earliest moment Biden could have had this conversation as vice president," the newspaper said.)
Jones served up even more nitpicky whining in a Feb. 21 article:
In remarks at a meeting with Polish leaders on Tuesday, President Joe Biden -- as usual -- recalled his childhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he said he was self-conscious about his Irish surname.
Mr. President, the connection between Polish and -- Polish and American people is extremely strong and deep," Biden said.
"I was kidding with the (Polish) president. I was, as a young man, I was born in a coal town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, northeastern Pennsylvania, in an Irish Catholic neighborhood.
"Then when coal died we moved down to Delaware, to a town called Claymont, Delaware, which was a working class town, and ah, but everyone in town was either Polish or Italian. I grew up feeling self-conscious my name didn't end in "s-k-i" or an "o."
Craig Bannister proclaimed a "Biden Blunder" in a March 24 article:
Today, I applaud China for stepping up,” President Joe Biden accidentally said in a speech in Canada on Friday, adding another public gaffe to his legacy of public speaking miscues that have gone viral on social media.
“Excuse me. I applaud Canada,” Biden then said, prompting laughs from the members of the Ottawa parliament.
Bannister hyped another purported miscue in a March 29 article:
“Voters resoundingly and roundly rejected the voices of extremism” in the November 2022 national elections, President Joe Biden bragged Wednesday – even though his party lost control of the House and picked up only a single seat in the Senate.
Biden made the boast during remarks at the Summit for Democracy Virtual Plenary in Washington, DC:
Bannister failed to mention that those results were much better than what a party holding the presidency typically sees in a midtern election, meaning that there is some accuracy to Biden's claim.
Jones took yet another shot at Biden in an April 11 article:
President Joe Biden sometimes has trouble exiting the stage, not sure which way to go, and yesterday was no exception.
After speaking to the crowd gathered on the South Lawn for the annual White House egg roll -- brief remarks he read from notes in his hand -- the president asked his wife, "We walk off?"
Why Did The MRC Kill CNS So Abruptly? Topic: CNSNews.com
The Media Research Center's shutdown of CNSNews.com was shocking but perhaps not surprising. The way it did it, though, may be even more shocking.
CNS was founded by the MRC in June 1998 -- meaning that it was killed two months short of its 25th anniversary. Most of the people working that at the time of its shutdown had been with theMRC for quite some time:
The only other major on-staff contributor, commentary editor Georgiana Constantin-Parke, had only been with CNS a few months before shutdown. The only person of this group of this group who appears to remain at the MRC is Bannister, who's still cranking out blogs under a severely depleted CNS nameplate at MRCTV.
That means the others have apparently been relieved of their MRC jobs after years of employment -- and relived in a very rude and abrupt manner. Whatever happened at CNS happened quickly; there was no evidence of a impending shutdownbeforehand, with stories continuing to be posted as usual through April 20, when the site ceased being updated. Then, after being in stasis for a few days, it was abruptly wiped away, with the domain being redirected to the CNS page on MRCTV. An alert box on MRCTV -- which took a few days to become visible to all readers -- promised to create "a new conservative media platform" through the merger of CNS and MRCTV, but it still looks like rant-filled MRCTV with an added CNS box of Bannister blog posts. Hardly a new "media platform," and it speaks to the haste in which the dismantling of CNS was done.
Longtime MRC employees were summarily dismissed and their work erased (though we found an archived version of the CNS website that the MRC has not publicized). They were not allowed to say goodbye or to celebrate the work they did. Heck, the MRC couldn't even be bothered to issue a press release to announce the shutdown and thank those longtime staffers for their years of work (or even to explain their fate).
That tells us that something more is at play. Did someone at CNS do something that drew legal scrutiny? Is the MRC hard up for cash and desperate for places to cut? (According to the 2022 annual report, 13% of the MRC's budget was spent on CNS.) Is there a link between this and all the staffers fleeing the MRC to work for Fox News? Inquiring minds want to know. (Have a tip? Let us know.)
Despite the shocking treatment CNS got in being shut down so abruptly, it isn't surprising. Online metrics suggest that CNS' website traffic has been dropping over the past few months, its audience was aging, and other right-wing websites draw much more traffic. Also, having longtime employees running it meant that they may have been stuck in their old ways. It seemed to be caught between two worlds: It wasn't as nimble and aggressive as other right-wing "news" operations, yet its fuddy-duddiness wasn't used to its advantage, staying content to merely peddle right-wing talking points (and Ted Cruz press releases to help out Jeffrey's daughter, a Cruz staffer) instead of doing any sort of reporting that would boost its credibility.
Perhaps the biggest piece of evidence that the death of CNS was not a surprise: nobody seems to miss it. There are no news stories in other media about the shutdown -- not even in other right-wing media. The only place to have noted the shutdown is ... here.
The MRC spent millions of dollars over the past 25 years building a "news" operation and a brand that ultimately went for naught and was blown up quickly in a day. Doesn't seem like the way one should treat something so expensive.
CNS Commentaries Also Pushed Bogus Narrative Blaming ESG Policies For Bank Collapse Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com's commentary side joined its "news" side in pushing the bogus right-wing narrative that caring about environmental, social and governmental issues is the reason Silicon Valley Bank failed in March. A March 13 commentary by Diana Furchtgott-Roth of the right-wing Heritage Foundation acknowledged some management issues at the bank but also tried to blame ESG:
While neglecting critical risk management, the bank’s 2023 proxy statement records 40 mentions of the environmental, social, and governance—or ESG—movement currently in vogue at many corporations and financial institutions.
In a “key change,” the board expanded the Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee’s oversight role in ESG.
The committee’s oversight includes, according to the proxy statement, “environmental sustainability, climate change, the Company’s external diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives, Board diversity, as well as our philanthropic strategy and advocacy activities.”
This shows a misplaced sense of priorities. The four members of the Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee (including Garen Staglin, who operates a Napa Valley winery) were among the six members of the Risk Committee. In retrospect, more time devoted to the Risk Committee would have been advisable.
A March 20 commentary by Hans Bader actually started by trying to reflexively blame President Biden, claiming that his "massive government spending caused inflation ... led to the collapse of a big bank, by shrinking the value of its long-term loans and bonds," then criticized "woke San Francisco Fed Chief Mary Daly" for allegedly focusing too much on ESG stuff and attacked bank officials for the same thing:
The head of financial risk management at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) UK spent the months leading up to the shocking bank collapse launching and leading LGBTQ campaigns for the company. Jay Ersapah, the head of financial risk management, organized a month-long pride campaign, a space for employees to share their coming out stories, and co-chaired the European LGBTQ Employee Resource Group, as the bank was at the brink of collapse.
Bader offered no direct evidence that any ESG-related action is directly responsible for the bank's collapse, but he did complain that "Bank officials gave money to Democratic politicians."
CNS Continued Pushing Anti-ESG Narratives Before Its Demise Topic: CNSNews.com
Before its demise, CNSNews.com washeavilypushing right-wing-mandated narratives against investing that take environmental, social and governmental issues into consideration, and it continued to do so pretty much until the end. Craig Bannister, CNS' chief ESG-basher, attacked a bank that wasn't even in the United States in a March 9 article:
A “Climate Modifier” bonus for top executives is among the tactics being used to advance the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, the bank revealed Monday, announcing the publication of its 2022 Climate Report and ESG Performance Report.
“These reports reflect the importance that RBC places on identifying, understanding and responding to the ESG topics that matter most to our stakeholders and our business,” RBC explains in its press release.
[...]
The Royal Bank of Canada isn't alone in its efforts to mix business with politics in an effort to advance ESG ideology.
In February, a global asset management corporation handling total portfolio funds in excess of nine hundred billion dollars began providing financial incentives to its employees to make investment decisions that subordinate profit maximization to the advancement of environmental, social and governance goals.
Bannister hyped a claim that ESG isn't as profitable as regular investing in a March 20 article:
While powerful asset managers, such as BlackRock, are pressuring companies to cater to liberal environmental, social and governance (ESG) agendas, a new analysis finds that companies that aren’t influenced by politics outperform those that are.
In a Wall Street Journal commentary, “Is ESG Profitable? The Numbers Don’t Lie,” veteran investment industry experts Mike Edleson and Andy Puzder present the findings of their study of the effect of ESG politics on company fortunes.
Bannister ignored other research showing that companies that embrace ESG principles have seen higher revenues, stronger growth of profits and greater access to finance.
The next day, Bannister gave Vivek Ramaswamy -- who was previously given a platform by CNS to falsely blame the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on ESG policies and whose presidential ambitions have been touted by CNS' Media Research Center parent -- to rage some more against ESG:
“The issue with the ESG movement – it stands for environmental, social and governance factors – it’s designed to sound boring for a reason,” Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy warns.
The reason the ESG movement doesn’t want Americans to take an interest in it is that it seeks “to accomplish through the back door what government could not get done through the front door using the Constitution,” the biotech entrepreneur explains in a video posted to his Twitter page.
A March 28 article by Bannister hyped a claim about "the apparent bubble-burst of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment market" made by a "financial and economics Author" writing at the right-wing blog Liberty Nation.On April 11, Bannister touted fossil-fuel interests (which CNS lovedto do) as allegedly doing well despite not being embraced under ESG:
Despite being shunned by fund managers trying to advance liberal ESG (environmental, social and governance) ideology, coal industry stocks have been outperforming both the overall market and those of other forms of energy, a new analysis reveals.
“The Zacks Coal industry stocks staged a rebound in 2022 courtesy of global demand and surging natural gas prices,” Yahoo! Finance reports in an April 6 article analyzing the performance of an 11-stock group of companies engaged in the discovery and mining of coal.
Bannister spent an April 14 article hyping a group pushing anti-ESG talklinjg points:
A list of ways Americans can protect themselves from the financial harm inflicted by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ideology is being provided by a website warning of the little-known dangers of the ESG movement.
“ESG is a highly subjective political score infiltrating all walks of life forcing progressive policies on everyday Americans resulting in higher prices at the pump and at the store,” cautions State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) CEO Derek Kreifels, whose group sponsors the Our Money, Our Values website.
Bannister didn't disclose that the SFOF is a Republican group that's simply peddling partisan narrative -- perhaps because that's what Bannister was doing as well.
CNS Unemployment Coverage Distortion Watch: Final Edition Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com's final report on monthly employment numbers -- two weeks before the website was shut down -- continued the trend of previousmonths in which the employment news was so good that writer Susan Jones had trouble find bad news to cherry-pick (as it does when a Democratic president is in office) in her lead article:
After setting three straight monthly records, the number of employed Americans leaped again last month, reaching another all-time high in March.
The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics says 160,892,000 Americans were employed last month, an increase of 577,000 over February's record 160,315,000.
BLS defines employed Americans as those who, during the reference week, did some work for pay or profit, or did at least 15 hours of unpaid work in a family-operated business.
As the number of employed Americans jumped again last month, the number of unemployed Americans -- no job, but looking -- dropped by 97,000, producing an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, down a tenth of a point from February. (The 3.4 percent unemployment rate in January was the lowest it's been since 1969.)
She did, however, dig up a number that was just slightly below expections, which gave her license to hype "less positive" news: "But on a less positive note, BLS says the non-farm economy added 236,000 jobs last month, below estimates of around 239,000 and the lowest number of jobs created since December 2021. BLS said job creation has averaged around 334,000 in the prior six months."
The only sidebar was the usual one from editor Terry Jeffrey on government employment, grousing that it "increased by 47,000 in March, climbing from 22,510,000 to 22,557,000." He didn't explain why this is the bad thing he clearly wants us to believe it is.
(Because the CNS website has been deleted from the internet, the above article links go to the Internet Archive, where the rest of the the CNS website can be found.)
CNSNews.com did 
As Donald Trump moved toward arrignment last month, CNSNews.com continued to do 
After Donald Trump floated the idea in March that his arrest was imminent, CNSNews.com unsurprisingly rushed to publish numerous articles about right-wingers defending him and attacking the district attorney investigating him, Alvin Bragg (whom CNS curiously makes sure to note is based in Manhattan):
Right-wing media 
Michael Orsi
Last year, we caught dishonest Catholic Bill Donohue 
CNSNews.com managing editor Michael W. Chapman did his part to forward Republican talking points on the border in a March 3 
CNSNews.com's final anti-Biden crusade before being shut down last month involbved doing a lot of whining about President Biden's trip to Ireland. Susan Jones sneered in an April 5 
CNSNews.com 
The Media Research Center's 
CNSNews.com's commentary side joined 
Before its demise, CNSNews.com 
CNSNews.com's final report on monthly employment numbers -- two weeks before the website was shut down -- continued the trend of 